07.05.2026 at 06.45
Performance audit

Family leave reform and multi-sectoral cooperation in services for families with children

The impact of fathers’ income on taking parental leave has slightly decreased as a result of the family leave reform. In future, it is important to monitor the development of the use of parental leave among fathers from different income groups and of different origin. The wellbeing services county reform has not improved multi-sectoral cooperation in services for families with children.

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Download report: NAOF's conclusions and recommendations: Family leave reform and multi-sectoral cooperation in services for families with children PDF 200 KB

Scope of the audit

Factors explaining fathers’ use of parental leave before and after the family leave reform.
Actions taken by employers’ to create conditions for achieving the objectives set for the family leave reform.
Multi-sectoral cooperation between services for families with children provided under the Social Welfare Act, child health clinic and early childhood education.
Focus on low-threshold services for families with children in accordance with the objectives of the 2015 reform of the Finnish Social Welfare Act.

Key findings

Contrary to what was anticipated during the preparation of the family leave reform, the number of fathers who do not take any parental leave at all has not decreased significantly.
Attitudes towards the family leave reform are the most reserved among small and male‑dominated companies.
Multi-sectoral cooperation in services for families with children is not always adequate and smooth.
The wellbeing services county reform has not improved the multi-sectoral cooperation in services for families with children.
The client process under the Social Welfare Act is applied in different ways in low-threshold services for families with children.

Briefly

The audit was targeted at family policy support measures, with particular emphasis on the family leave reform and services for children under school age and their families.

Overall, the impact of fathers’ income on the use of parental leave has decreased somewhat. As a result of the reform, fathers take more parental leave days than before, but the number of fathers who do not take any parental leave at all has not decreased. The difference in the use of parental leave between Finnish‑born fathers and fathers of foreign origin was significant even before the reform and has continued to grow. The reform has also increased the probability of taking longer parental leave among Finnish‑born fathers more than among fathers of foreign origin.

Good practices promoting the use of parental leave are less common in small and male‑dominated workplaces. Among these employers, support for the objectives of the reform is weaker than among employers in large companies and in female‑dominated sectors.

The development of family centre activities has promoted multi-sectoral cooperation in practice. On the other hand, the wellbeing services county reform has not improved the multi-sectoral cooperation in services for families with children, and other actors see problems in their cooperation with social services, in particular. There are varying practices in low‑threshold social services with regard to the service needs assessment under the Social Welfare Act and, more generally, the client process. The boundary between services provided for families with children under the Social Welfare Act and child welfare is also unclear.

The parental leave system has mainly indirect significance for central government finances, because its purpose is to promote the reconciliation of working life and family life and thereby to support family formation and employment. The functioning of services for families with children on central government finances has also primarily indirect impact on central government finances. Smooth services prevent the need for more intensive and more expensive services.

Around one fifth of fathers do not take any parental leave at all.

The figure shows, by income group (1–5), the predicted probabilities derived from an ordinal regression analysis of belonging to the parental leave use category in which the father’s leave exceeds the quota (54 or 97 days), presented separately for 2019–2021 and 2022. The probability increases consistently with higher income groups in both periods. In 2019–2021 (blue line), the probability increases from approximately 0.04 in the lowest income group 1 to around 0.11 in the highest income group 5. In 2022 (red line), the level is clearly higher in all income groups, ranging from approximately 0.06 to around 0.16. However, the figure shows that the predicted probability has increased more strongly in the highest income group 5 than in the lower income groups. — Predicted probabilities for income groups 1–5 of belonging to the parental leave use category in which the father’s leave exceeds the quota (54 or 97 days) in 2019–2021 and in 2022. Source: Register data from Statistics Finland and Kela, analysis by NAOF.

Hiring a replacement for the duration of parental leave is most common in female-dominated workplaces: in the case of women, a replacement is hired always or often clearly more frequently than in the case of men. In male-dominated workplaces, the hiring of replacements is more rare, and the tasks during parental leave are more often redistributed among other employees. As regards men’s parental leave, redistributing tasks to other employees is more common than hiring a replacement, whereas in female‑dominated workplaces replacement arrangements are more prevalent. — Employer companies’ assessment of the prevalence of different ways of organising the work of employees on parental leave, by workplace gender composition. Don’t know responses have been excluded. Source: The NAOF’s survey of employer companies.

Less than seventy per cent of the respondents considered that families access social services too late in order for their service needs to be addressed through low-threshold services. — Timely access of families to social services. Source: The NAOF’s survey of immediate supervisors in statutory social services for families with children under the Social Welfare Act, N=104.

Recommendations of the National Audit Office

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health should examine in more detail the use of parental leave among fathers from different income groups and of different origin.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health should develop measures to reduce the non‑use of parental leave by fathers and to promote a more even distribution of parental leave costs between the employers of both parents.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health should clarify the provisions and guidance of the Social Welfare Act concerning service needs assessments in low‑threshold services for families with children.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health should when reforming the Social Welfare Act, promote a stronger shift in services for families with children from intensive services towards low‑threshold preventive services.

The wellbeing services counties and the City of Helsinki should strengthen multi-sectoral cooperation between child health clinics and early childhood education in services for families with children provided under the Social Welfare Act.

The wellbeing services counties and the City of Helsinki should increase the provision of information on low‑threshold social services for families with children and on social services contact channels to other actors and to families.